Bizarre (and unethical?) landlord situation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We rented a SFH about 2 months ago in a nice suburb of a large metro area (not DC). We moved from out of state and wanted to wait a year before buying.

The realtor who worked with us and did all the lease paperwork mentioned that the detached garage would not be available because the owner/landlord uses it for storage. He also would be coming into town once and awhile and would stay in the apartment above the garage. Fine.

Well, he has not left the garage apartment. Actually LIVES there. We are really pissed that this was not disclosed to us. He stops by and rings our doorbell 1-2 a week to pick up mail and check on the house. He also does yardwork in the backyard at his leisure. We reached out to the realtor, and are waiting for her to talk to the landlord directly.

Is there any recourse here to get out of this lease? We are locked in for 1 year. I do not feel comfortable having a random person living in our backyard. Our teenage daughter is freaked out to stay home by herself.
We would have never rented the place!!

HE STOPS BY TO CHECK ON THE HOUSE 1 - 2 TIMES A WEEK???

He sounds OCD, and there's a reason why he's renting the main house and not living in it himself... like, he ran into money issues and had to vacate the main house, but isn't happy to be staying in the apt.

Speaking as a landlord with 20 years experience, people who find themselves in such a financial bind that they have to rent out their home, should never, ever be landlords.
They're too emotionally invested in the situation and that doesn't translate well when the other party is simply trying to have a logical, ethical, professional relationship.

They didn't happen to put the part about the apt. in writing, did they?

You need to put up some major boundaries, STAT.
My suggestion -- if you don't hear back from the agent/realtor, go over their head to their manager and file a complaint.

Then go to the office for landlords & tenants in your county (just Google your county name and landlord, tenant office).
Either call or stop by to see them and see what they say (the one in MoCo, MD you can stop by any time during business hours).

You may want to also check to see if your landlord is even licensed to rent the property? Most counties have a search engine online, you can just type in your home address and it will tell you if he's licensed to rent or not.

If he's not, well, he's gonna be hit with some MAJOR fines if you tell on him.
Thus, I'm sure he'll be amicable to your moving (make him pay your moving costs too!).

it depends on what he means by "check on the house" - do an inspection? yah, weird.

if he's just knocking on the door for mail, and if you want to stay and don't want to be confrontational (because do either of these really help? sheesh, all the lawyers) why not just suggest he get a mailbox and use 1456B Main Street. You keep 1456. if he says he's not allowed to do that it tells you somehting. but its worth a try for both of you

[Anonymous]

You city or county likely provides a free landlord/tenant consultant type of person. Make an appointment, bring your lease, being notes and documentation of what's going on (times/frequency/locations of occupancy and contact) and see what they say. It's important to get advice from your jurisdiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We rented a SFH about 2 months ago in a nice suburb of a large metro area (not DC). We moved from out of state and wanted to wait a year before buying.

The realtor who worked with us and did all the lease paperwork mentioned that the detached garage would not be available because the owner/landlord uses it for storage. He also would be coming into town once and awhile and would stay in the apartment above the garage. Fine.

Well, he has not left the garage apartment. Actually LIVES there. We are really pissed that this was not disclosed to us. He stops by and rings our doorbell 1-2 a week to pick up mail and check on the house. He also does yardwork in the backyard at his leisure. We reached out to the realtor, and are waiting for her to talk to the landlord directly.

Is there any recourse here to get out of this lease? We are locked in for 1 year. I do not feel comfortable having a random person living in our backyard. Our teenage daughter is freaked out to stay home by herself.
We would have never rented the place!!

HE STOPS BY TO CHECK ON THE HOUSE 1 - 2 TIMES A WEEK???

He sounds OCD, and there's a reason why he's renting the main house and not living in it himself... like, he ran into money issues and had to vacate the main house, but isn't happy to be staying in the apt.

Speaking as a landlord with 20 years experience, people who find themselves in such a financial bind that they have to rent out their home, should never, ever be landlords.
They're too emotionally invested in the situation and that doesn't translate well when the other party is simply trying to have a logical, ethical, professional relationship.

They didn't happen to put the part about the apt. in writing, did they?

You need to put up some major boundaries, STAT.
My suggestion -- if you don't hear back from the agent/realtor, go over their head to their manager and file a complaint.

Then go to the office for landlords & tenants in your county (just Google your county name and landlord, tenant office).
Either call or stop by to see them and see what they say (the one in MoCo, MD you can stop by any time during business hours).

You may want to also check to see if your landlord is even licensed to rent the property? Most counties have a search engine online, you can just type in your home address and it will tell you if he's licensed to rent or not.

If he's not, well, he's gonna be hit with some MAJOR fines if you tell on him.
Thus, I'm sure he'll be amicable to your moving (make him pay your moving costs too!).

it depends on what he means by "check on the house" - do an inspection? yah, weird.

if he's just knocking on the door for mail, and if you want to stay and don't want to be confrontational (because do either of these really help? sheesh, all the lawyers) why not just suggest he get a mailbox and use 1456B Main Street. You keep 1456. if he says he's not allowed to do that it tells you somehting. but its worth a try for both of you

It sounds like he's just collecting his mail. If the lease says he can live in his own garage, OP is out of luck. She can complain to the agent's broker and file with the state, but she should have read the dotted line. She won't now be able to prove the agent said he would be stopping by only sporadically and that's hearsay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We rented a SFH about 2 months ago in a nice suburb of a large metro area (not DC). We moved from out of state and wanted to wait a year before buying.

The realtor who worked with us and did all the lease paperwork mentioned that the detached garage would not be available because the owner/landlord uses it for storage. He also would be coming into town once and awhile and would stay in the apartment above the garage. Fine.

Well, he has not left the garage apartment. Actually LIVES there. We are really pissed that this was not disclosed to us. He stops by and rings our doorbell 1-2 a week to pick up mail and check on the house. He also does yardwork in the backyard at his leisure. We reached out to the realtor, and are waiting for her to talk to the landlord directly.

Is there any recourse here to get out of this lease? We are locked in for 1 year. I do not feel comfortable having a random person living in our backyard. Our teenage daughter is freaked out to stay home by herself.
We would have never rented the place!!

HE STOPS BY TO CHECK ON THE HOUSE 1 - 2 TIMES A WEEK???

He sounds OCD, and there's a reason why he's renting the main house and not living in it himself... like, he ran into money issues and had to vacate the main house, but isn't happy to be staying in the apt.

Speaking as a landlord with 20 years experience, people who find themselves in such a financial bind that they have to rent out their home, should never, ever be landlords.
They're too emotionally invested in the situation and that doesn't translate well when the other party is simply trying to have a logical, ethical, professional relationship.

They didn't happen to put the part about the apt. in writing, did they?

You need to put up some major boundaries, STAT.
My suggestion -- if you don't hear back from the agent/realtor, go over their head to their manager and file a complaint.

Then go to the office for landlords & tenants in your county (just Google your county name and landlord, tenant office).
Either call or stop by to see them and see what they say (the one in MoCo, MD you can stop by any time during business hours).

You may want to also check to see if your landlord is even licensed to rent the property? Most counties have a search engine online, you can just type in your home address and it will tell you if he's licensed to rent or not.

If he's not, well, he's gonna be hit with some MAJOR fines if you tell on him.
Thus, I'm sure he'll be amicable to your moving (make him pay your moving costs too!).

it depends on what he means by "check on the house" - do an inspection? yah, weird.

if he's just knocking on the door for mail, and if you want to stay and don't want to be confrontational (because do either of these really help? sheesh, all the lawyers) why not just suggest he get a mailbox and use 1456B Main Street. You keep 1456. if he says he's not allowed to do that it tells you somehting. but its worth a try for both of you

You can’t just add a stop or address on a mail route. New builds go through tons of paperwork and it’s a long process. Unless there’s a legal subdivision on the property, he won’t be able to get mail delivered to the garage. You need to tell him he’s not a resident of the property for the next year per the lease you signed, and he needs to do a change of address to a PO box or wherever he’d like his mail delivered. I’d also go the realtor and managing broker at the same time in writing and say you need to get out of this lease and expect your fees and moving expenses reimbursed. Now they won’t do that but it’ll force them to make the landlord stick to the terms of the lease he signed. I’d also check w/ zoning bc assume it’s single family zoned. I’d be curious if the garage apt has a certificate of occupancy for N unrelated family to habit there. I would doubt it. These could all help you get out of the lease.
Not to scare you, but we rented a beach house under similar circumstances. It started out just creepy, with the owners on the garage balcony watching us. It ended up with them entering the house when we weren’t there and going through our stuff.

[Anonymous]

It’s not bizarre or unethical.

A lot of landlords live onsite in DC and nearby. You rented one. It’s perfectly legal and likely spelled out in your lease. You said that you don’t have use rights to the area that the landlord is occupying, correct?

This is called house hacking. If you didn’t want this arrangement, you should have said so to your realtor and declined the lease.

What early exit provisions are in your lease? You can use one of those or just move out at the end if you regret your choice to live there.

Look out for this if you plan to rent again. I’ve even seen listings for sale with onsite tenants around here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our lease does not specifically state that we cannot use the garage. It was stated from the realtor.

And yes, he is a random man.

What areas do you have exclusive use of in your lease? Look for the term quiet enjoyment.

[Anonymous]

I'd negotiate to end the lease because you can't enjoy the yard - but if you stay, then at minimum (1) he needs a PO Box where his mail gets sent and (2) he needs to limit his visits to reasonable maintenance purpose with reasonable notice. He doesn't get to pop by weekly, that's intrusive.

[Anonymous]

I’d be pissed too OP. I’d be ok with him staying there now and again if that’s what’s in the lease, but that’s not what’s happening here.
Assuming you have it in writing that he said “ now and again” I think he is in full violation of the agreement.
You should have something drawn up in writing saying he is violation of the contract and you need him to abide by his wording or you want to break the agreement and no cost.
The gray area is going to be the legal definition of now and again. Clearly though living there full time is not that. Hence the violation. He should have a legal address elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

This is actually sounding to me like there is nothing forbidding their use of the garage, based on OPs second comment.

Like they just signed a lease for a house, but the realtor said to them "oh and the owner might stay in the garage from time to time" without that being written in any sort of documentation.

If there is no actual documentation giving the landlord the right to use the garage, then this is a pretty clear breach of contract and I would be getting out of the situation ASAP.

[Anonymous]

I do not understand why you insist the owner of the property is a "random man", but I do understand why having the owner onsite permanently is disturbing, when you were told he would just be there occasionally.

Please consult a real estate attorney, OP. You're in a grey area of law if you seek to break the lease early for this reason.

[Anonymous]

I have been in a similar situation. Rented a home and landlord was 2 doors down. He was CONSTANTLY coming over the first few months making excuses to be there and it felt weirdly like he was checking up on us/the house. DH finally told him to stay out of our way, if there were any issues when we moved out we could deal with it then.

One day we were going hiking/kayaking and after driving about 10 minutes realized we forgot something and went back to our place. We found our landlord INSIDE the house and he'd never disclosed to us he was going in. Probably saw us leaving with kayak on the roof of car and thought he had plenty of time to come in before we came back. When we caught him, he made some lame excuse about how he thought there was a water problem in the basement and needed to check it. Really creeped me out.

We should have involved tenant/landlord authority then and there. We had only a few months left and decided to get the heck out of there when lease was up and didn't want any more contact with him.

Guess what? We moved and he found lame excuses to keep all of our deposit, a substantial amount for us, but we'd moved to another city and didn't think landlord/tenant dispute in small claims court was worth the hassle.

Your guy is a crackpot and it needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like a standard accessory dwelling unit arrangement. In MoCo, you have to keep a single address for mail purposes and the owner has to occupy one of the units.

Reread your lease very carefully.

[Anonymous]

Read lease. If there is no ADU language. Contact city and see if unit was legally rented (e.g., inspected). Start with the realtor, if that doesn’t work, go to head of brokerage. The realtor is getting a cut, they can refund your deposit and you can move. You can set up an escrow account in the court and make rent payments into account and take him to L&T court.

[Anonymous]

1)Tell the landlord what you were told by the agent “he will be staying once in a while”.
Since you are staying full time it’s not working for us.
2) Do the yard work on specific days and times.
3) I will be putting your mails out near the garage for you, you don’t have to come in to ask for it.

[Anonymous]

OP -- the reality is not too off from what was described. You are being weird.

Fine that it's not your preferred living arrangement but have you even tried to - not see the bad?